A hodgepodge of stuff just waiting for consumption

Day 30 – Challenge Complete

Well friends. We made it. We’ve come full circle. You are probably wondering what wise words I’ve come to share with you on this – the final day of my challenge.

I have always loved writing, never felt like I did it enough. I had toyed with the idea of starting a blog on and off for years, but always held off because I wanted to do it right. I wanted to set up the perfect design, Instagram, corresponding Facebook page, have an editorial calendar. I wanted to be in it to win it and make it interesting content with a point of view.

When Kate told me she was doing a 30 day writing challenge on her blog, I was intrigued. I decided to say fuck it – and for once – not worry about being perfect and buttoned up. I hit publish on a blog I had started to put together months ago, without really making it pretty or interesting to look at. I knew that this was probably only something my friends and family and stoners who are deep into page 10 of their Google search results would see. That was fine. This was more for me than anything.

There have been highs (The Selflessness of Pregnancy was probably my most emotionally raw post, but also a favorite) and lows (did I really write that much about my laundry?). There were a lot of filler posts and it didn’t help that this all happened during an exceptionally busy time, which made many days feel more like a chore than it should have.

Do I still want to be a blogger? I don’t know… If I’m going to do this, I still want to do it and make it organized. Would I be a mommy blogger (cliche)? A running blogger (crowded space)? A mommy runner dorky blogger? Maybe that’s a niche I can tackle. I know if I want to do this right, I have to carve out an area and stick to it. But I’m not just one thing. When Bachelor season starts up again, you know I’m going to want to write about that. Is there room for that on a healthy and/or parent-focused site?

I do know that I’ll probably break from writing for a bit. Partly to figure out where I want to take this thing and partly to focus on other things. My one book a week reading schedule took a hit during this challenge and I found myself going to bed a bit later than I like. These posts would take 30-45 minutes to write – sometimes more depending on if I got distracted by Snapchat (Username: sbjac, see you there!). I also spent very little time on proofreading, which you could probably tellz.

It’s nice to know that I still have this little site if I’m ever motivated to pour my heart out about meal planning, the latest parenting annoyance or inspired to turn this into a Bachelor recapping repository. A place where I can share my thoughts when 140 characters won’t do, but stream of consciousness is welcome.

I like to follow through on things, and tend to start a lot of things that I can’t finish. This wasn’t one of them and it’s nice to feel like you’ve accomplished a goal, however small.

As my reality TV Yoda Chris Harrison likes to say, it’s been an incredible journey and though I’ve handed out the final rose (to myself, this metaphor is a stretch), there might be some fun to be had in Paradise!